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All New Norgren valves
Jefff Rowe’s ETLC shop replaced Norgren valves along with new fittings on our 2000 Marathon “H” a total of 9.
All air bags a total of 8, generator bags 4 , mini bags in engine bay belt tensioners 2 and OTR compressor mini bag 1 are new.
Here is a ride height control valve found to be leaking at threads. This fitting was not touched but apppeared a original not tight install. Removed top valve cleaned threads, replaced top DOT fitting, all is good. Took about 5 minutes for bubbles to appear.
New air bag install front drive axle along with OEM part Monroe Gas shock
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17 Replies
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Big Al, Have you moved in at Jeff’s place? You need to get out of there before you spend all of Mary Ellen’s money!
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Tom & Bill….
Someone had to stay … we got out of there yesterday feeling like a new penny…. someone has to keep Jeff harrassed you know !!
Diane
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BA, how long you holding air now? I was holding 90lbs for 3 weeks or so and never get below 60 lbs of air on all 3 gauges. Now it’s getting down to 60lbs in a week.My turn pretty soon but when I go under to look at everything it still all looks brand new.
I need to start with the obvious stuff.
Later
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Bernie,
The amazing part of this air system overhaul is bus did not leak down any rapid air amount. It spent most of its life in
the west where its dry. That alone probably extends the life of air components on Prevost buses.
Probably about the same as you are now Bernie. My feeling was buying a 14 year old bus was to replace the
trouble makers. Norgren valves generates a lot of conversation on PC. Air bags also, ours appeared to be original
after removal of the fronts seeing cracks you could drive a truck through was the right call. One of the little forgotten
items and not cheap are DOT fittings, they are flat out expensive. I once sold them so I’am aware of that additional cost.
AL
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Al now claims he can shut the bus off, come back 4 weeks later and all 3 air gauges are still at 120 and the bus is dead level. Claims that when the sun was just right coming through the bay door at East Tennessee Luxury Coach, he swore there was a halo over Jeff’s head. I might not have got that right since I’m hard of hearing.
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Al is doing preventive maintenance that is both expensive and not required. He could have postponed most of that work for a long time. He could have waited for an air bag to burst, or the Norgren valves to leak so bad the bus leaned sideways in a few hours.
But he now has a virtually new undercarriage. So while he owns his coach he not only has peace of mind, he has the pleasure of knowing it will be trouble free as far as the the systems he has repaired are concerned.
In the past we have had extended discussions about maintenance programs. We are all different and we are all influenced by different things when it comes to developing our maintenance agenda. The Prevost schedule should be an absolute. No matter what our personal feelings on maintenance that is to be considered as a requirement. There is no gray area because the time and mileage intervals are well established, not only by the engineers who create the schedule, but by the millions of miles of commercial service experience Prevost sees on its coaches.
The arbitrary schedule however involves the big buck items. Tires, air bags, Norgren valves, brake chambers, batteries all enter the equation. All of us can wait for problems with those items, or we can try to anticipate the need and get proactive. There is serious money involved in maintaining a coach and with the costs of items like tires being very high, even a one year delay in replacing tires can have a high dollar impact on your operating costs. The same can be said of air bags or batteries. The flip side however is if you delay too long and you have an on road failure of a tire, or an air bag, or even a battery whatever savings you might have realized by delaying replacement will likely be eaten up by the cost of service, cost of the replacement part(s), or inconvenience.
I have no idea what Al invested in his air bags, but it is a pretty safe bet that whatever the total cost was, it will have been less expensive than the cost of a flat bed trailer required to carry his coach to a service facility if he had an on road air bag failure. That does not include any consideration for the potential damage of trying to get a coach that canot be raised onto a trailer. Tires carry a similar risk. The lucky among us only have to pay an outrageous price for a replacement tire if one fails while on the highway. The unlucky among us have additional expenses associated with the damage a failed tire causes as it comes apart.
The bottom line is Big Al has made a decision about being in control of his coach’s reliability. It was an expensive choice, but in the end he is going to increase his enjoyment of the coach and probably never have the concerns about on road failures.
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Al, I need about the same work done. Can you give me a ballpark on the cost? Thanks.
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It’s about 4000 per air bag with labor norgrens about 900 each mini air bags 600 each , norgrens and mini air bags are just the cost of parts , air bags for gen are expensive from power tech I think about 1500 per bag ..
Last year I redid my Royale coach inside and out, couch, toilet, tv , seats,roof fan, and all things out side it cost me about 650000 some stuff done by me and some done by Prevost it was well worth it, to not have any trouble on the road!!!!!! Tires, steering , batteries ,wheel seals , all fluids,
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Larry,
We have several advertisers that we strongly support that are doing work on not only the conversion part of the coach, but the chassis as well. Based on the age of your coach and assuming no original parts have been replaced here are the tasks I would suggest you consider.
Air bag replacement, Norgren valve replacement, brake chamber replacement, shock replacement, belt tensioner air bag replacement, complete pneumatic leak check with possible fitting replacement as needed, complete steering system inspection, inspection of all bushings (suspension, shocks, sway bar, etc).
From the above you can pick and choose, or if you are keeping your coach for a long time, do them all and enjoy a like new undercarriage.
Contact any one of our service and repair shop advertisers. They are all highly qualified. Feedback has been excellent and they stand behind their work. They can give you estimates. Having said that, I can tell you the work described above is heavy and dirty work, but a number of us have also done our own. But you need safe access to the bottom of the coach, the ability to pull your wheels, and tools and time. If you are not mechanical take it to one of our advertisers because someone not familiar with our coaches might quote a lower price, but the risk of mis-connecting some suspension system air lines or not understanding the easy ways to remove and replace components could get much more expensive in the long run.
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Jon’s message above is very good advice to PC members.
I choose Jeff’s shop and have no reservations in recommending ETLC to other PC members.
As usual with all things mechanical my stay was 2-3 days in shop. It turned out to be 6 days.
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Glad u got it all done Al and u r on your way home, it’s a big job no matter if u do it or Jeff does it , I would say take your coach to Jeff’s place they r the best in the business !!!!!!
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Jon,
In response to your comments on preventive maintenance. We are not owners yet but soon I expect we will be. I have been spending a lot of time reading and learning, I think it would be very useful to have a copy of Prevost specified maintenance schedule. Could you point me in the right direction?
Thank you in advance!!!!!!!
Jeff
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jon, thanks fpr your pointers.
i have started on this list and will progress throught it. one thing i did over look in my plan is the bushings. not sure why, especially since i just did tjose in my wife’s 5 year old XTerra.
did the shocks, working or norgren valves now. then air bags, brake chambers, but will have jeff look at bushings when i am up there next week.
so question on a 1998 XL, how many norgren vavlwa are there and how many ride height valves are there?
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11 norgrens valves 3 ride ht
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Charles,
I think your Libety has 3 5 port Norgrens, 5 3 port Norgrens and two solenoid operated Norgrens installed by Liberty. Notice the word “think”.
Jeff
As to where to access information of all types regarding a Prevost chassis, and in this specific instance the recommended maintenance I always start with the Prevost Publications Page. But do not stop there. Prevost has done an outstanding job of providing us with every piece of information we can imagine. Start at their web site, go to the commercial side and start poking around. You will come across webinars, and a host of other pieces of information uder “service”.
https://secureus5.volvo.com/technicalpublications/en/manuel.asp
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